(no subject)

* "U.S. says strategy on North Korea centers on sanctions, open to talks:" http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-harris-idUSKBN17S21G

* "Trump: Chance of 'major, major conflict' with North Korea:"

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* "Booker: Stripped Trump State Dept inadequate for world challenges:"

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* It's a hidden way of making reproductive health too expensive for women to access. "Tax credits in GOP plan 'unusable' in NY:"

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* "Trump's tax plan is a big boon for…himself:"

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* "Trump review threatens to rip up Obama protections for wilderness areas:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/26/trump-national-monuments-review-obama-wilderness

* "Trump attacks judiciary for blocking order on sanctuary cities:" http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/26/trump-tweets-sanctuary-cities-237620

* "Homeland security unveils Trump's controversial immigrant crime office:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/26/us-immigrant-crime-office-homeland-security-trump

* "Sessions vows to press legal fight on sanctuary cities:" http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2017/04/26/sessions-sanctuary-cities-237668

* "Treasury secretary can't guarantee middle class wouldn't pay more under tax plan:" http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/treasury-secretary-steve-mnuchin-guarantee-middle-class-pay/story?id=47051355

* Sean Spicer is insisting that it is somehow President Obama's fault that Republicans chose a literal foreign agent to be National Security adviser over vociferous Democratic objections. O.o I wish earth logic still applied. "Spicer blames Obama for Flynn’s security clearance:" http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/330925-spicer-blames-obama-for-flynns-security-clearance

* "Jared Kushner courts scandal with sketchy business backers:"

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* "Subject of Flynn seems to panic Trump and his allies:"

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* "Booker: Public pushback stopped Trumpcare, may be needed again:"

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* "The race for votes on health care is on, once again:" http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/27/politics/republicans-health-care-votes/

* "100 Years of Beauty Men: India (Aman):"

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* "Donald Trump's First 100 Days In Office | THE SIMPSONS:"

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* I genuinely laughed out loud multiple times and had trouble putting it down. "An Unattractive Vampire by Jim McDoniel:" http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2016/03/an-unattractive-vampire-by-jim-mcdoniel.html

* "Discount Armageddon (InCryptid #1) by Seanan McGuire:" http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2017/04/discount-armageddon-incryptid-1-by.html

* "Marvel Movies are not Marvel Comics:" https://slavetomyheadcanon.tumblr.com/post/160025679062/marvel-movies-are-not-marvel-comics

* Class: I've watched the first two. It was a little slow starting, but oh was it worth it! I perked up about where we got the Prince and the Math teacher backstory. I really liked the opposing perspectives and the complexity of what they are trying to talk about there: freedom fighter vs. terrorist, punishment vs. slavery and their willingness to let it remain complex. I definitely appreciate the characters and their different backgrounds, and I am glad the mother was played by a real paraplegic instead of an able bodied person, because it reassures me on all sorts of levels.

The thing that I like the very best so far is the decision to show Ram (the one male straight cis character) dealing with grief, body issues, and PTSD. I really appreciate that they haven't hand waved Ram's PTSD or his difficulty adjusting to losing his leg. Just because he got a magic prosthetic doesn't erase the massive effect the sudden loss of bodily integrity has on a person or the way so much of his identity is tied up in his identity as an athlete. I really appreciate that he's having to train the leg instead of it all being forgotten next episode, as most shows would do. I really appreciate his flashbacks to the sudden gory death of the really nice girl who genuinely liked him even though he is kind of a tool, and that he's dealing with all this stuff and even the other people who were there don't really get it. I like that they aren't all instantly friends. They present a bunch of small one on one relationships in the beginning of episode one, but they don't knit together instantly into a unified whole.

They really did an excellent job of showing realistic mourning. Ram's unwillingness to talk when forced, they way he was willing to talk to the character who'd mourned before and kept not forcing him, the way she talked about the process where she and her brothers started referencing her father in small ways and how that helped. I was hugely relieved at the end when Ram told his father about the amputation and the rest of what he's dealing with, and his father's supportiveness.

Class could be so much simpler and more cliche. Instead they decided to keep it complex and more interesting. I appreciated the bit in the first episode where they reference Buffy and Vampire Diaries, acknowledging their antecedents, which some of their stuff must necessarily overlap, while at the same time giving us the different home situations and moral complexity that points to the different directions they are trying to go in.

* Hint: It's not what you'd think. "Ten staples that every woman needs in her closet:" http://listing-to-port.tumblr.com/post/159558128314/ten-staples-that-every-woman-needs-in-her-closet

* National Poetry Month:

"Because I could not stop for Death – Emily Dickinson:" http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/160065784240/because-i-could-not-stop-for-death-emily

"Hawk by Mary Oliver:" http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/160067418932/hawk-by-mary-oliver

"Love by Billy Collins:" http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/160069145123/love-by-billy-collins

* Dragon Cave:

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